American History 1600-1877
In the period from 1600 to 1877, it could be argued that the United States was only basically establishing itself as an independent nation in its own right -- the period in question builds up to the climax of the Civil War, in which the contradictions inherent in the national identity would finally reach armed conflict. Who, then, could be nominated as the best of the American enterprise in that time period? For different reasons, I would nominate Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, and Frederick Douglass.
Franklin is an easy choice: he established America's credibility in the eyes of Europe. Regardless of the military issues involved in the American Revolution, it was Franklin alone who showed Europe that there was a viable independent nation across the Atlantic. This is in recognition of his various accomplishments, which were scientific, technical, literary, and philanthropical (in his endowment of universities and libraries). If there had been no Benjamin Franklin, America would have been understood as merely a vast colonial territory full of raw materials to be exploited. Franklin demonstrated that there was something distinctive about the American character. It also must be noted that the role he played in the Revolution itself was probably crucial in terms of its success, as it was Franklin's diplomatic missions to Paris which ensured French support for the colonies. The fact that Franklin's own view of the Revolution was somewhat ambiguous -- he supported Royalist causes before the Revolution, and was employed by the British government -- but his ultimate attendance at the Continental Congress lent it an intellectual eminence that did much to establish America as a viable nation.
To include Walt Whitman on the list of best possible influences on America before 1877 may seem an odd choice: poetry and literature do not make things happen. But Whitman served much the same function as Franklin, and Leaves of Grass demonstrated that there was a viable national philosophy. Whitman's poetic tributes to Abraham Lincoln, in "O Captain My Captain" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," managed to give voice to the public response to Lincoln's assassination and to the Civil War generally: the fact that Whitman's quasi-religious faith in the American democratic...
American Revolution's Emphasis On Individual Rights The American Revolution was in many ways a conflict over liberty -- a war between the ideology of the old world (as represented by the monarchy and the crown) and the new world (as represented by the Romantic/Enlightenment doctrine illustrated in Thomas Paine's Rights of Man). This paper will discuss the ways in which the early political experiences of our nation's forefathers gave the American
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American Revolution and Taxes There has always been an uneven and uncomfortable relationship among politicians, taxation, and the American people. The old saying, that death and taxes are the only certainties in life, remains nevertheless true. Taxation is as inevitable as the government's duty to provide its people with services. Sometimes, however, when it becomes necessary to raise taxes, people tend to view this in an extremely negative light. From government's
American Psycho In his seminal work American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis uses the character of the yuppie serial killer Patrick Bateman in order to criticize American consumer culture while simultaneously challenging the reader to confront his or her own responses to that culture, responses that Ellis seems to suggest are only removed from the sociopathic actions of Bateman in a manner of degree, rather than kind. To see how Ellis uses
Some writers had been overwhelmed by the sudden changes brought by the Harlem Renaissance and they preferred writing about certain things which didn't involve it. Sometimes they chose to write about a place in the U.S. which had a special effect on them at some point of their lives. 3. Black people had not been the only ones struggling to receive credit for their writings during the 1920s, as it had
Alexander Hamilton carried on an affair with the wife of "a notorious political schemer," Maria Reynolds. Andrew Jackson married Rachel Jackson before her divorce from Lewis Robards was finalized and therefore was accused of marrying a married woman. Jackson's opponent in 1828, John Quincy Adams, was in turn accused of "corrupt bargaining" during his term. Jackson also championed Margaret O'Neill Timberlake, who married his secretary of war, John Eaton.
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